At the EPB Board meeting Friday morning, approval was given to issue a $125 million bond. And earlier this week it was announced that the power board will receive a $32.3 million federal grant from the Department of Energy which EPB will match dollar for dollar. The two funding sources will be combined to make capital improvements in the power grid for now and into the future. Work will begin where there are the most problems in the service area.
In the core of the service area, the smart grid has multiple paths where power can be rerouted to bypass the problem. In areas at the periphery of the service area, EPB lines stop and often do not have alternative routes available to get around the damaged area.
With the new money available, one of the improvements that will be made is to use new technology and add large battery storage units that can become a second source of energy for keeping electric service on for businesses and homes that would be effected by an outage. This improves EPB’s reliability in other ways, as well. By keeping the power on in those areas long enough, the battery backups will free up people and equipment so that response can be made more quickly to problems elsewhere. And keeping the power on helps another way, by keeping businesses open and running to prevent those customers from losing income.
Hamilton County is growing at a fast pace and building subdivisions and multi-family dwellings is the highest it has been in 10 years, said EPB President and CEO David Wade. He said this year building is expected to be 35-40 percent higher.
Another use for the new funding will be to keep up with the growth by installing electric and fiber optic infrastructure for the many new apartments and subdivision lots. He said that the power lines for new construction are being put underground and that will prevent a lot of problems due to storms in the future, but it is a slow process and more costly than putting lines overhead. However, it definitely is better to do it upfront, he said.
EPB began putting lines underground in subdivisions in 1993 after the blizzard that year, and after 30 years, 80 percent of the lines in the Chattanooga area remain overhead. He said that shows how much of the primary system was already there. "We are building for growth to accommodate all the people moving into the area," he said.
Replacing old power poles will be another use for the grant and bond money. New poles will minimize damage and outages during storms.
Mr. Wade mentioned several other items of interest to EPB. He said that the idea of a net neutrality Internet has been an issue since EPB got into that business. At a recent meeting of the FCC, having fast, reliable broadband service was considered to be a basic need. Proposals were made for preventing Internet providers from blocking or slowing Internet traffic for some while giving priority access to those who pay more. Mr. Wade said that EPB has never operated that way because it is the right thing to do.
Another issue being discussed by the FTC is to prohibit “junk fees,” or hidden costs that often are on bills. Those additional charges make it difficult to know the actual cost of a service and so customers are unable to compare prices from different companies. This is another thing that EPB does not do, he said. "The price you are given is what your bill will be. The new regulations are what we are already doing," said Mr. Wade.
Something that is not customarily talked about is EPB's levels of redundancy, he said. Because the company has multiple fiber optic paths and multiple companies that provide video, when there is a problem with one source, the content is rerouted around the path that is having a problem and customers do not see any difference, the same way that the power grid reroutes electricity.